Ohio Secretary of State John Husted Refuses to Comply With Court Order That Would ‘Confuse’ Voters

Remember when Ohio Republican Secretary of State John Husted tried to extend voting hours in Republican counties, and then when everyone bitched and moaned about it he was all FINE, I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND AND NO ONE GETS WEEKEND VOTING, and then it came out that this was all part of a heroic plan to save the election from being sullied by certain kinds of voters? Well, now Jon Husted has had it with all of these shenanigans and with the contortions of the electoral process. This has become too darned confusing, all these voting hours being extended and then not extended and then extended for everyone except for “urban” people and whatnot, so he’s refusing to comply with a court order to expand voting hours so that voters are not “confused.”

From Think Progress:

Jon Husted, Republican Secretary of State in Ohio, is refusing to change his restrictive early voting schedule even after a federal court restored in-person early voting to all Ohioans during the three day period before the general election. Husted claims expanding hours before an appeals court hears his case will “only serve to confuse voters.” Husted first restricted the voting hours in Democratic-leaning urban counties to weekdays only, then restricted all counties’ voting schedules after complaints of unfairness. In spite of several counties’ requests to stay open on weekends, when most employed people have time to vote, Husted has flatly refused to accommodate them.

What an American treasure, looking out for Ohioans and making sure that they can go through their day without being confused by, you know, Democracy.

About the author

Kris E. Benson writes about politics for Wonkette and is pursuing a doctorate in philosophy. This will come in handy for when they finally open that philosophy factory in the next town over.
@Kris_E_Benson

Comments

So if this guy goes to prison for refusing to comply what else will he refuse to comply with and what will the outcome be?

tihond

I wouldn't be so sure he'd refuse to comply. Looks like he has a "wide stance" to me.

no_gravity

And a purty smile.

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com MittBorg

It's no fun if they don't struggle a LITTLE, at least.

Wadisay

I hope he does go to prison because he thinks President Romney will pardon him.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

"I'm sorry, Bruno, I'm confused. If I bend over to pick up the soap…"

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com MittBorg

Butt-p[lumbing. And if you don't believe that, you've never been to prison or known anyone who has.

bikerlaureate

A male Republican going to prison?

I don't get it.

ChernobylSoup

Last time a state politician refused to follow a federal court order in my state, the 101st Airborne came in and explained what's what.

Little Rock Central High School has been desegregated ever since.

FNMA

Sure, the governor could send in the Ohio National Guard. What could possibly go wrong?

gullywompr

The governor's not the only one with the authority to deploy National Guard troops…

IncenseDebate

John Husted, Strabismus of State of Ohio.

James Michael Curley

I resemble that remark, but the Army taught me to fly anyway.

ph7

Neidermeyer – DEAD!

prommie

Well this is interesting. How many troops does Mr. Husted command?

FakaktaSouth

He hopes he commands just enough to make sure the election goes whatever evil cheating way he's plotting over and to create a ring around his house when the law comes to get his criminal ass. I wish there really was going to be a door busting. I know, I know.

Boojum

Maybe we could have a door busting party?

Mittens Howell, III

Judging from last week's convention the RNC has full command of the Keystone cops.

Guppy

Jack and shit, once they're federalized.

Barrelhse

"And Sergeant Dow Jones, twenty-seven years old,
Commanding his very own tank."

TribecaMike

On earth or in hell?

Mojopo

He looks like every guy on Sleep Creep.

gullywompr

Husted, here's a tip for your prison stay – don't bend over to pick up the soap in the shower.

I was being snarky Prommie. If I was the USAG I would have a pillory set up on every corner of Wall Street with bankers and economists strapped in. What a great motivator it would be for honesty in finance.

prommie

Man, Holder is the greatest most glaring sign of Obama's fucking worthlessness there is. Not A Fucking Thing has been done about any of the Bush crimes, not a fucking thing. Look over here, we decided not to fight for the validity of DOMA, thats the only fucking thing he has done thats at all something, anything, that the democrats who elected him wanted. Token issue, a distraction, from the continuing domination of the military industrial complex, the finance industry, and the oil companies (Obama covered up every fucking thing about how bad the BP spill was and still is in the Gulf, its criminal).

ibwilliamsi

Is he a "Shitbag Holder", or the "shitbag, Holder"? I love puns!

RedneckMuslin

Isn't he the one going after Bush, Cheney, and Rove for…. Wait, that still hasn't happened yet.

prommie

The holder who stopped the torture and extraordinary rendition and prosecuted those responsible? The Holder who went after the banksters who nearly destroyed western civilization with their unchecked greed and fraud? The Holder who took a stand on Gitmo and military tribunals?

The only legal issue holder ever did any fucking thing on was gay marriage. The lesson is: the dems use token hot button social issues to distract us from the fact that they are the fully owned tools of Wall Street, just like the republicans do.

Lascauxcaveman

LOL, you're harshing my DNC buzz, dude.

pdiddycornchips

Holder is only the AG. Policy decisions are made by someone else. All this is to say, Hopey sets the policy on shit like extraordinary rendition, GITMO and whether or not to pursue charges against the last administration. Holder has been pretty aggressive about going after Voting Rights Act violations.

prommie

Didn't he just announce last week there will be no charges and no action against Goldman Sachs? I know, I know, this is all on Obama, thats what I am saying. Lesser of two evils. Continued unchecked capitalism, greed, growing economic inequality, dismantling the public school system (the Obama education policy is gung ho for Booker style privatization), only with a little band aid and less gay-hating, thats the difference between a republican and a democratic admin, far as I can see.

pdiddycornchips

Hey, I agree wholeheartedly. I was a proud PUMA and still believe she would have been a far better choice. But this time, with Paul Ryan on the ticket, I have to put that shit aside and vote for Hopey. If they win, we will have four or eight years of Mittens and then another decade of Ryan. That fucker is the Anti-Christ.

Baconzgood

Voting like we did in the last election will only confuse people see. So we changed it all around for the soldiers and white people.

http://wonkette.com/ weejee

Rome Coliseum calling on line 2. They say they have some lions who need feeding.

http://wonkette.com ChillBill

Is it me or somebody is just severely butthurt?

KeepFnThatChicken

Oh, I don't know what his problem is. The Diebold voting machines don't even record black votes anyway.

Crank_Tango

Ah so it's not a fingerprint scanner, just a darkness detector? Ingenious!

What is he complaining about? Confused voters tend to vote Republican anyway.

Thurman Munster IV

See: Palm Beach, County of. 2000.

WhatTheHolyHeck

Butterfly ballot libel!

ibwilliamsi

Isn't the first Tuesday in November STILL election day? Because if people are "confused" by early voting, I think that the "confused" can STILL vote on the first Tuesday of November until 8 PM. They can just stay home on the other days.

HempDogbane

Enhanced Universal Suffrage !

EatsBabyDingos

What a red-eyed ginger. Bet he bogarts and doesn't yell "Intercepted!"

http://wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

Husted, why are you so afraid of not employing the Free Market of ideas?

Terry

These guys seem to be genuinely shocked each and every time they get caught trying to restrict people's ability to vote. Apparently, the Koch brothers, or whomever is pulling the strings, forgot to mention that there might be opposition to the maneuvers.

tessiee

Remember what we discussed about certain so-called "human beings" being ot-nay oo-tay art-smay.

Ruhe

Interesting that you mention the Koch brothers as I'm suspecting that this really comes down to a labor dispute, the Koch's forte. They can't allow weekend voting because if they did then Diebold would have to pay their engineers time and half to work on rigging the machines on those weekends. The Kochs won't support paying overtime so screw the engineers and close the polls, problem solved.

I am sure this is a just a simple misunderstanding. I would think a 6'5" 230 pound federal marshall could probably straighten this out rather quickly.

freakishlywrong

"That's a lovely Democracy, Mrs. Cleaver"

Monsieur_Grumpe

Eddie Haskell is a Republican? I guess I'm not surprised.

Isyaignert

"Be a shame if something were to happen to it."

kittensdontlie

"Now Eddie, go home and tell your mother that we need this Democracy."

"Oh I will, Mrs Cleaver. Why I was just telling my mother the same thing this morning."

Mittens Howell, III

This is about legitimate and illegitimate voting, isn't it.

*sigh*

no_gravity

Forcible/non-forcible.

Kakkeltje

Only legitimate voting can cause pregnant chads.

tessiee

I would have thought that by now, Diebold would have fixed up the machines to simply expel the illegitimate votes.

emmelemm

It's got systems in place to shut things down.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

You can't get elected with legitimate voting

LesBontemps

A bit too "on the nose." Would it kill him to make just some effort at craftiness? Sheesh, the standards for villainy are really slipping.

OurHoboSenator

All those months he spent not pooping have led to Husted being completely full of shit…

sharethegrief

Holder, don't send in the Ohio National Guard. It could be dangerous.

BaldarTFlagass

Just ask Neil Young.

sharethegrief

Every time I listen to Neil, it's like spending time with an old friend.

Estproph

Opie's all grown up!

Baconzgood

Jon, let Baconz give you some advice *placing my hammy arm around his shoulder*. WHEN THE COURT SAIS TO FUCKING DO SOMTHING YOU'RE REQUIRED TO FUCKING DO IT YOU FUCKING FUCK STICK! IT'S CALLED A FREAKING RULING AND IT'S THE FUCKING LAW YOU WIERD EYEBROWED PHOTOTHERMOLYSIS FACE MUTHER FUCKER!!!!!!!!

PsycWench

No matter how many troops he thinks he's got, the Feds have a lot, lot more.

ColHeightsChic

Unless you're a maverick. Mavericks don't have to follow the law.

FakaktaSouth

So these same masterminds of voting fraud and identity theft and stealing elections are confused by voting times? He's smart.

I checked the mail on Monday, but there was no mail to check. Confused, I went home. Then I remembered! It was Labor Day! My confusion was no more. I checked the mail on Tuesday, and there was mail. And it was good.

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/hamsterpantsworld Hammiepants

These guys are even TRYING to be stealthy anymore. They're just straight-up prevaricating weaseldicks, and they apparently don't care who knows that. I know a riot is an ugly thing, but the constituents in these districts with these fucking bigoted fucktards should be out in the street with torches and pitchforks running them out of town on a rail.

I'm in Ohio and I'm confused. …About why we have to put up with this shit!

Send in the troops, Obama!

freakishlywrong

Look for him to hailed as a patriot by the Tea Oh Pee any second now.

http://johnnyzhivago.blogspot.com johnnyzhivago

Blacks, hispanics, women and students can VOTE in Ohio???

Next thing you're going to tell me is that we're giving away the Panama Canal!

comrad_darkness

He's so patriotic you gotta wear shades to keep from being blinded by his Godly Holy Patriotism.

kittensdontlie

Living in Ohio can be very disorienting. Why, most days I wake up with the funny thought that we have a President who is black! Imagine that, a black President!

Goonemeritus

I find the Federal, State and Local ordinances dealing with pantsing right wing nut jobs confusing, can I ignore them?

Jimmyone

No regs about wedgies tho.

tessiee

"See? Because of me, they now have a rule." — Homer J. Simpson

Mittens Howell, III

Okay Husted, we're gonna count to five and then we're sending Michelle Obama over to fuck you up.

metamarcisf

What if you knew him and found him dead on the ground?

Mittens Howell, III

I'd create a new twitter hashtag — #breitbarting

RedneckMuslin

Yeah, it didn't work out for Four of them but it was a sunny day.

hagajim

Looking at him, I'd prolly step over him and bitch about corpses being in my way.

rickmaci

Cool. The little banjo playing kid in Deliverance grew up to be a Republitard.

BaldarTFlagass

And he has a real pretty mouth!

Arborista

The fangs are just barely showing.

MiniMencken

Even the hairstyle is pre-Voting Rights Act.

http://johnnyzhivago.blogspot.com johnnyzhivago

What do you expect from a state that names a city after Jerry Sandusky???

T3rbo

This guy is not very good at stealing elections: this announcement is two months too early. It does not take two months to force this child faced guy to do what he is told. Voter suppression fail.

Me_K_Cong

He isn't going to open polls, because it will confuse voters to have the polls open? What an obtuse little fucker he is.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Now now, he has a point: blahs have had so many doors slammed in their faces, they might become confused.

LastGasp

Take heart, conservative wing-nuts, Husted has "simplified" the ballot so that only Mitt Romney's name is legible on the ballot. The other guy is listed as what looks to be Berdelback O'Bannesey.

BaldarTFlagass

We're gonna need a bigger vote!

SorosBot

Well it's always been the case that politicians can just stone cold ignore court orders they don't like.

magic_titty

Do Republicans have to look so…Republican?

tessiee

God's revenge on them for being such pigs is making them *look* like pigs.

kyeshinka

They all have that Sig-Ep cumlicking Natty-lite drinking, Singled-Out watching, Jeep Wrangler-driving dopey look on their faces.

Kid_Charlemagne

What high in the middle and round on both ends? John Husted's fucking head.

Blueb4sinrise

Four polls in O-hi-o.

kittensdontlie

Yes our Ohio R-governor and SoS won't kill anyone, they just want to silence half of the population by a fraud against our voters.

KeepFnThatChicken

My guess is that he feels he must hold out for three weeks. Then he'll be all like, "Registration is over, and fuck you on getting that shit changed."

BaldarTFlagass

I went back to Ohio
But my polling place was closed.
And bullshit filled the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls
Ay Oh
Way to go Ohio.

ElPinche

Fuck Scut Farkus

Barrelhse

Anagram for "John Husted"?

LibrarianX

Confuses confusion with easier

ph7

Confucius say man with closed poll get no lever action.

MacRaith

I would just like to point out that I predicted this very action in a comment five days ago.

I'd like to pretend that this course of events was really difficult for anyone to see coming and that I made an insightful and gutsy call, so please humor me.

http://inappropriatejobpostings.blogspot.com/ fuflans

i for one did NOT see this coming and i salute your uncommon prescience.

i did not think even OH republicans would be that stupid.

http://wonkette.com Lionel[redacted]Esq

Democracy is very confusing. Which is why I voted for Obama to establish a Caliphate.

shelwood46

Things that are confusing:
Showing up to your polling place when the court said it would be open and finding it locked up tight.
Showing up to vote at the right time and having to wait in line so long the polls close before you can vote and/or they run out of ballots.
Not confusing;
Showing up to vote and getting to vote.

Arborista

TOO MUCH LOJICK!!1! I HAZ CONFUSED NOW!

BaldarTFlagass

Looks like Howdy Doody went all Pinocchio and got turned into a real flesh and blood little boy!!!

Arborista

So he's NOT a Stepford voter prototype?

ph7

Leaving polls opened on weekends is very, very confusing. Very confusing to those who are trying to figure out a way to prevent people from voting.

Callyson

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Crank_Tango

The Koch brothers might love you, but History will not be kind to you, Mr Vote Suppression.

Republicans have been pulling this shit for at least the last — what, 50 years? — when the National Guard had to force them into integrate the schools.
For a bunch of people who want to run the country, they sure do suck at obeying the law.

prommie

Where the hell is Rebecca? I am getting worried about her; is she MIA? Hope its something good, maybe she just got lucky last night and woke up and started at it again.

SorosBot

Hung over?

prommie

I was hoping its something more fun than that. I have come around, I like her now.

Hope she picked wisely and doesn't have to knaw her arm off to get out of there.

DahBoner

What an awful man Klansman.

HogeyeGrex

Can we have this turdsnorkle chucked in the stripey-hole for contempt of court now?

Please?

pdiddycornchips

Where did this frat boy get his law degree? Where does it say the state attorney general gets to decide which federal court rulings to comply with and which he can totally ignore? He reminds me of one of the football jocks in the movie Heathers.

"Football season is over, Veronica. Kurt had nothing left to offer the school except for date rapes and AIDS jokes."

emmelemm

"I love my dead gay son!"

Antispandex

This isn't fair. There must be SOME legal way for the Republicans to cheat….I mean do what's best for real Americans.

Ruhe

That's The Ohio State Secretary of Sate to you morons.

http://lostintarnation.blogspot.com/ SayItWithWookies

How clever of Mr. Husted to issue his own stay while he's appealing the initial ruling. I'm sure the judiciary will be very pleased to see he's doing their important work of interpreting the law for them.

tessiee

Christ, what an asshole.

Guppy

Mr. Law-and-Order Republican, meet the US Marshals Service!

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com MittBorg

The *real* question is, ARE WE GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS SHIT?

LibrarianX

Doesn't Husted look like some frat guy? You know? The one who likes blow jobs from his buddy, but only when they're drunk…?

Fox n Fiends

your move, freedom.

http://inappropriatejobpostings.blogspot.com/ fuflans

according to wikipedia which is always correct, he was born in Detroit and abandoned by his biological parents.

i can certainly understand why.

randcoolcatdaddy

Obama officially declaring a Federal holiday on election day would be even more confusing.

cheetojeebus

Beady eyed fucker eh?

Chichikovovich

You've got to admit, the Republicans are problem solvers. Problem of confused voters? Solution: Don't let people become voters.

Voilà! No confused voters.

http://crasstalk.com/ grandinquisitor

This is more painful than having Reds' season tickets.

Mapmonger

Christ, what an asshole.

ingloriousbytch

As a resident of the Buckeye State, I cordially invite the authorities to throw Jon Husted into the deepest darkest hole the Federal penal system has to offer.

Eve8Apples

If Ohio voters are too stupid to figure out when to vote, perhaps they should drop out of the Electoral College.

Apparently the judge has ordered Husted to appear at an emergency hearing in Columbus on September 13.

Oh the spanking. It will sting.

fawkedifiknow

If I was a judge on the Court of Appeals, and some dipshit – like this guy – said he wasn't going to obey a lower court order until the Court of Appeals I was sitting on had a chance to rule on the case, I would say to myself: "What if I make an order and this aforementioned and certified dipshit says he won't follow my order either, until the Supreme Court rules on the case? Will I like that? Will I countenance such impertinence? No, I won't. Therefore, I am not going to let him do it to a lower court either. Fuckface."

glamourdammerung

Nothing a drone strike would not fix.

Tricky_Dick

Amazing he left the glory hole long enough to disobey a federal court order. He's usually very good about taking orders, but that's probably when he's just on his knees.